Bilbo's Birthday

Let us turn back time and reminisce on Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday, because after all, it was one of special magnificence. There are still more posts to come, the scouring of the shire, the grey havens, the end....but in a way, September 22nd is the beginning of the end. 

Bilbo has his 129th and 130th birthdays in Rivendell, while the hobbits are restoring the Shire, and his very last birthday in Middle Earth, TA 3021 is the day that he meets Frodo to go to the grey havens. The Last Riding of the Keepers of the Rings. A week later, he and Frodo leave Middle Earth forever. And Gandalf. And now I'm sad. I would like to believe that Gandalf may some day be sent back to assist Middle Earth against some new evil, but somehow I don't think he will. His purpose is complete. The Age of Men has arrived. 

And now for one gross of a few quotes....

It seems fitting to begin with the very first line:

"When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton."

"[I]t seemed unfair that anyone should possess (apparently) perpetual youth as well as (reputedly) inexhaustible wealth."

"'A very nice well-spoken gentlehobbit is Mr. Bilbo, as I've always said,' the Gaffer declared. With perfect truth: for Bilbo was always very polite to him, calling him 'Master Hamfast', and consulting him constantly upon the growing of vegetables - in the matter of 'roots', especially potatoes, the Gaffer was recognized as the leading authority by all in the neighbourhood (including himself)."

People are always forgetting about the Gaffer, and it makes me mad.

"Inside Bag End, Bilbo and Gandalf were sitting at the open window of a small room looking out west on to the garden. The late afternoon was bright and peaceful. The flowers glowed red and golden: snap-dragons and sunflowers, and nasturtians trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows."

And no, Nasturtians is not a typo. Some editor or proof-reader tried to change it to nasturtiums, but Tolkien did not permit this on the grounds that the two were actually very different plants. One must never try to tell Professor Tolkien how a word ought to be. He is a philologist after all. 

"Before long the invitations began pouring out, and the Hobbiton post-office was blocked, and the Bywater post-office was snowed under, and voluntary assistant postmen were called for. There was a constant stream of them going up the Hill, carrying hundreds of polite variations on Thank you, I shall certainly come."

Hobbits are not the most polite of people, indeed they can be rather rude and blunt at times, but at least they understand that one must always RSVP. The world would do well to follow in their large footsteps. 

"The lights went out. A great smoke went up. It shaped itself like a mountain seen in the distance, and began to glow at the summit. It spouted green and scarlet flames. Out flew a red-golden dragon - not life-size, but terribly life-like: fire came from his jaws, his eyes glared down; there was a roar, and he whizzed three times over the heads of the crowd. They all ducked, and many fell flat on their faces. The dragon passed like an express train, turned a somersault, and burst over Bywater with a deafening explosion."

I sympathize with this dragon. I too am very life-like, but not quite life-sized.

"'I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.' This was unexpected and rather difficult. There was some scattered clapping, but most of them were trying to work it out and see if it came to a compliment."

"I am going. I am leaving NOW. GOOD-BYE!"

 






(Lest there should be any confusion or matter of rights and whatnot, all quotes in this post are from The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, unless otherwise mentioned. There may be slight errors, misspellings, or alternate punctuation in the quotes, and if you notice such, please inform me so that I can speedily remedy them. But I think the fact that I made this blog proves that I would never intentionally change something of Tolkien's in the transcribing of it.)